Walt de Heer wins the 2010 MRS Medal

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Walt de Heer wins the 2010 MRS Medal "For his pioneering contributions to the science and technology of epitaxial graphene."

Currently a Regents' Professor of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he directs the Epitaxial Graphene Laboratory in the School of Physics and leads the Epitaxial Graphene Interdisciplinary Research Group at the Georgia Tech Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.

De Heer and his research groups have made significant contributions to several areas in nanoscopic physics. In 1995, De Heer’s research turned to carbon nanotubes, showing that they are excellent field emitters with potential application to flat panel displays. In 1998, he discovered that carbon nanotubes are ballistic conductors, which is a key property for graphene-based electronics. In 2001, his work led to the development of graphene-based electronics. This project was funded by Intel Corporation in 2003 and by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2004. His paper, Ultrathin Epitaxial Graphite: Two-Dimensional Electron Gas Properties and a Route Towards Graphene-Based Electronics, published in 2004, laid the experimental and conceptual foundation for graphene-based electronics. De Heer holds the first patent for graphene-based electronics that was provisionally filed in June 2003.

Georgia Tech Press Release:
http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=63022